Bovine serum albumin stabilized silver nanoclusters as signal-on fluorescent probe for detection of hydrogen peroxide and glucose

A signal-on fluorescence method for determination of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and glucose was developed using bovine serum albumin-capped Ag nanoclusters with thirty atoms (BSA-Ag30NCs) as sensing probe. It was relied upon the size-dependent fluorescence of BSA-AgNCs. The prepared BSA-Ag30NCs have an average diameter of similar to 3.4 nm and exhibit a red emission at 635 nm. The fluorescence intensity of BSA-AgNCs could be enhanced by H2O2 with the etching and then formation of smaller nanoclusters. Under the optimum experimental conditions, a linear calibration curve for H2O2 was obtained within the concentration range of 2-200 mu M with detection limit of 1.1 mu M. Coupling with glucose oxidase (GOD) catalytic reaction, the BSA-Ag30NCs sensing platform could also be used to detect glucose. The enhancement of fluorescence intensity (F-F-0)/F-0 was linear related to the concentration of glucose over the range 5-180 mu M with detection limit of 3.4 mu M. This method was successfully applied to the determination of glucose in human serum samples with satisfactory result.

Automated summary

A signal-on fluorescence method using BSA-Ag30NCs as sensing probe was developed for determination of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and glucose, with linear calibration curves obtained for both substances within specific concentration ranges. The enhancement of fluorescence intensity was found to be linearly related to the concentration of each substance, with satisfactory results achieved in the detection of glucose in human serum samples using this method.